Lasting Impressions

“At our staff meeting, we asked our organizational people to give you written memorandums of constructive ideas and pointing out problems that should be solved,” O’Malley wrote Walsh. “This is why I have dictated the above. It will be better to do it in writing than having the word going around by mouth to ear as we have a tremendous challenge before us to make this stadium function smoothly and we should all be striving to cooperate. Many of us have been working around the clock and it would be very easy to blow off steam, but let’s save that energy to keep the operation moving smoothly. Thanks a lot.”

As the finishing touches continued, so did the lavish praise from spectators making their first impression of what others were calling “baseball’s Taj Mahal.”

Noted Los Angeles Times columnist Jack Smith decided in the summer to check out the new ballpark. The New York native returned with a nostalgic account of his experience and his comments predicted lasting greatness for the stadium.

“It seems unique and marvelous to me because it couldn’t have happened in any other time in place in civilization, and it will most likely never happen again,” Smith wrote. “In 100 years, I predict, Dodger Stadium will be as great a curiosity as the Colossus of Rhodes and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

“This temple has been erected at the very zenith of the cult of Abner Doubleday, as the Parthenon was erected at the moment in history when the Greek spirit burned the brightest.”

In the June 20 edition of The Albuquerque Tribune, columnist Carlos Salazar summarized his first visit to Dodger Stadium with an observation about how fans in other baseball cities would expect to be treated if a new ballpark was constructed.

“O’Malley’s plant, in my opinion, is the baseball stadium of the future,” Salazar wrote. “You’re going to have to give John Q. Public something besides a hard-seat bench, a greasy hot dog and an ice-filled cup that passes as a soft drink. O’Malley went a bit further than most because his revolutionary plant offered many, many new items. He keeps you engrossed with the myriad of new offerings.”

When publicly reviewing the ballpark, O’Malley praised the overall use of color. “The white roof is extremely attractive,” he said. “I am pleased with the dimensions of the field. We aren’t getting any cheap home runs. I am crazy about the message board. I think our lighting is fine but some refocusing is required. There are too many lights focused on the stands and not enough on the field.”Sid Ziff, Los Angeles Times, 1962

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